Gas leak kills 18 miners in north China

Thirty-four miners were working beneath the shaft at the time.

Eighteen miners have died in an underground gas leak in a north China coal mine.

A wall collapse opened a permanently closed area beneath the shaft of the Dahuiyao coal mine in Shanxi province on Friday and caused a fire, producing large amounts of toxic gas, the Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

Thirty-four miners were working beneath the shaft at the time. Three of them escaped from the accident site, while rescuers lifted 14 men out, one of whom died in hospital.